Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea

John Waters (one of my favorite persons in the movie business) lends his voice to the story about Salton sea, a constructed sea that once was a high-end holiday resort, but has now transformed into an environmental disaster. The documentary about Salton sea, directed by Chris Metzler and Jeff Spinger, is both entertaining and tragic. Located in the middle of the Californian desert, Salton sea, originally an accidental, man-made sea born out of irrigation water from the Colorado river, was a project intended to be a part of modernization, the American dream of leisure and fun. As a result of flooding, rising salt levels and hurricanes, tourists turned elsewhere and many of the residents moved away. But some stayed, and in Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea, some local eccentrics are interviewed. They talk about their lives, the sea and what it is like to live near this environmental trash heap where the fish and the birds die because the water is so bad. Some of these residents relent in their opinions: it's still a beautiful place and a good place to live. - - - Few documentaries succeed so well in combining social commentary and personal anecdotes. Perhaps the reason why the film is so good is that it abstains from unnecessary posing. The people appearing in the film never feel just like quirky characters offering comic relief - we start to see Salton sea through their eyes.